wassup4565

We were there for four days in June/18 driving Route 1 near Reykjavik. The road is asphalt in excellent condition, one lane each way, paint lines well-marked, narrow lanes and also narrow shoulders, with a sharp drop off of several feet beyond the shoulders. Drivers are polite and follow the rules. Visibility depends on the weather. If there is rain driven by wind, it will be difficult.

One of our most wonderful times in San Juan was discovering the area where the "Save a Gato" cats live. It was amazing to see the kitties lolling around on car roofs, sunning themselves on doorsteps, and even stretched out on low tree limbs looking down on us. Is there any word on how the cats are doing?

I also saw on the news that store owners in Old San Juan were bringing street dogs inside to safety during the peak of the hurricanes. I know there are many terrible stories about how the people of PR have suffered. Just wondered if anyone knows about how those animals are doing.

Oh, and even if the trolleys are working, they are real bone-shakers! They have hard wheels that rattle and bump over the cobblestones. The noise is so loud you can't hear the tour commentary. Once was enough for me! Taxi to El Morro doesn't cost much.

For people considering walking to the forts, consider this. The forts are not very far away from each other. You reach both forts by turning right from the pier and walking up the hill. First you come to San Cristobal, and then after a further walk uphill, at the top, you reach El Morro (the larger of the two). A single ticket, by the way, gets you admission to both forts. The uphill walk is pretty steep, and as others have said, the air temperature is often hot, so it can be a sweaty, tiring walk all the way up to El Morro.

Here's a suggestion. Take a taxi to El Morro first, and have a look around it. It's a really big fort, with many beautiful views. As well, there is potable drinking water in the fountains and the bathrooms are clean and peasant. After El Morro, walk down the hill toward the pier and stop in at the smaller fort. It's about halfway, and the same ticket gets you in. Enjoy the cool interior spaces, and use the drinking fountains and bathrooms there. Then walk the rest of the way downhill to the pier.

The forts are very well-run and maintained, with many signs and other information. The most amazing thing about them to me is imagining those long-ago military men, far from home, building the forts largely by hand in the hot conditions. Waiting for an attack from the sea, wondering if they would ever see home again. What a life that would have been.

These ports have been devastated and badly damaged, but that doesn't mean the sun doesn't shine or the ocean doesn't still throw waves onto the beach. Our plan for Feb has always been to go to Orient beach in St Martin. It's a beautiful place, and even if changed, will still be beautiful.

If the many vendors are not fully re-established, there will be many there selling and doing what they can. Even if all they can do is sell me a hot dog off a barbecue and a rum punch out of a cooler, it will taste delicious, and orient Beach will still be there to walk along.

As for fears about security, please. There is not a person on that island who does not want to see happy tourists visiting. They have a well-functioning government, a police force aware of the issues, and citizens who will not be amused if some little creep disrupts the recovering economy. Believe me, the locals want to make sure you are safe and have a lovely time, even more than you do. NTheir future depends on it.

The difference is the cruise line makes money by selling snacks at the theatre. So if there's money to be made, the real difference is that people who would like to enjoy a performance for an hour without the competing sounds of munching and crunching must take a back seat to the sound of money being made.

Thanks, Bob. And many other people will be grateful too. I gotta have coffee, and I'll do what I hafta to get it. It's not a pretty sight to see me staggering around in my nasty old nightie looking for a coffee, believe me!

I think this is a shameful rip-off of the crew - people who are not well-paid by most standards - by RCI. They are taking much-needed money out of those people's pockets and putting it into their own. Nice. When I stay in hotels, the room service bill usually indicates whether the gratuity has been added (it usually is, in Canada). If it's been added, I don't tip separately. But on the ship, people don't see the bill, and it's likely some (many?) will assume the charge covers the tip. I would have assumed that. Now I find out it's all going to RCI.

I can accept it when the cruise line transparently adds new charges, jacks up drink costs, etc., because I understand what is going on. I can make my decisions as a consumer to continue to do business with them or not. But this strikes me as sneaky. It's a charge that could appear to cover the server's gratuity, unless people look into it carefully. and as such, people may think they are tipping, when all the money actually goes to the cruise line and the staff's workload still remains the same.

I must have missed something??? Seems there is charge for room service now. News to me. I did do a search to find out more, but didn't find anything useful.

I did look at the menus posted, and it seems to indicate there is not a charge for Continental breakfast. Is this correct? Because I don't want to pay $7.95 for delivery of a coffee, a bowl of cereal and a banana. Can somebody tell me what the $7.95 charge applies to, and what it doesn't?

Back from our second trip to Iceland this June, and already planning our third trip next summer. Here are a few new things to mention.

Iceland is very expensive (island, isolated, northern). A modest but tasty lunch for two at the Geysir in that cafeteria cost us about $35 US. You can save by buying a few groceries at a Bonus supermarket. There are many in Reykjavik. Buy some sliced bread, cheese (local is delicious), lunch meat for sandwiches, juice, etc. Skyr is a delicious Icelandic version of yoghurt, comes in small tubs with spoons, and in many flavours. Gas stations sell ready-made items, and Icelandic hot dogs which are famous.

We did not really like the Blue Lagoon. It's one big pool, often very crowded, and very expensive. However we loved the geothermal public pools, which is where Icelanders go to bathe. There are nine in Reykjavik (google them) and the large ones feature numerous outdoor tubs of varying temps, water slides, swimming lanes, etc. About $10 admission, open till 10 pm, and a cultural experience too!

Not mentioned so far is the Reykjanes peninsula, which is where both the Blue Lagoon and the airport are located. We self-drove but there are also bus and van tours. The landforms on this peninsula are very different from the Golden Circle and the south coast. Weird, other-worldly, like a science fiction movie. Immense lava flows of many shapes and colours, volcanic cones, steaming vents, ocean views and cliffs, and the rift appears again above-ground too. It was a highlight for us.

If you were organizing the M&M and 130+ were signed up, what type of icebreaker activity would you plan?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Here's one that's great with a big group, called Find Someone Who. Pre-cruise prep: come up with a list of five questions that are not threatening or too personal, e.g., Find Someon Who:

Was born in a month with no 'r' in it.

Drives a red car or truck.

Knows how to cook an artichoke.

Can play a musical instrument (even a little bit).

Goes by their middle name.

I can fit three sets of these five questions on one page. Cut them up into sets. Hand one set of questions to people as they come in (if people want to do it as a couple, fine, whatever). Tell them they have till the proceedings start, to move around the room meeting people to complete the questions. This gets even the wall flowers involved, as they will have people coming up to them asking what color vehicle they drive! If somebody asks if there is a prize, tell them the prize was all the great people they met.

I've used this a lot. Never fails in my experience. Always gets the room buzzing.

Lindy

They should be an opportunity for people who have been involved in the roll call to get together, meet each other, possibly share info on ports and excursions, find people who want to play bridge, mah Jong, etc. Most of the time they turn out to be an event where people sit in their own little groups, and wait around for the activities staff to show up and hand out a few prizes. I think the staff should take a more active role, and encourage people to get up out of their seats and meet new people. I used to organize conventions and workshops, and there are simple, non-threatening "icebreaker" activities to get this happening.

Is it possible we will see more ports using tendering? That could be an option too. I'm thinking of St Vincent and the Grenadines for example.

Hubby's khakis have always been accepted and always come through just fine.

I will also add, I never went wrong by tipping a buck or two on every bar order, EVEN though there is already a gratuity added on every bar bill. Faster service, possibly a little more generous pour, and a serving of peanuts and dried fruit. Yep. Pick a bar, go there by preference, tip, and receive some consideration.

Canadian here, and while our attitudes to tipping are a little less generous than Americans', the reality is that in both countries, the wait staff in bars and restaurants are paid as poorly as it is possible for employers to pay them under the law. Why? Because owners expect the employees will be tipped, and staff will accept bad wages in hopes of earning more by being attentive, careful and pleasing.

The cruise ship staff are very poorly paid under international law. Some support entire families on what they earn on board. So please do not remove their gratuities from your bill. That money is buying shoes or dental care for the family back home.

Having said all that, should you tip extra? No, not unless you demand extra. Some people get on a ship and seem to expect the staff to cater to all their whims and desires. If you are going to do that, then yes, pony up some cash because you are adding to a busy person's workload

They offer a wash and fold special partway through cruises that length, and we have found it very good. Laundry comes back clean and folded. Don't be shy! A very experienced RCI cruiser told us he stuffs the bag to bursting, and that's what we do now too. Before you start jamming clothes into the bag, however, here's a tip. Tally up the types of clothes before jamming them in, and record them on the paper provided. How many pairs socks, how many golf shirts, and so on. Otherwise, you'll have to pull it all out again to count it, and restuff! Amazing how much you can get onto that bag if you roll items and focus on filling up the crannies.

It takes a couple of days to come back, so get on it as soon as it's announced if you're running short. Our friend does it because he likes going home without a lot of dirty laundry.

Black! Even if you get ketchup on it, it won't show. Black pants, black shorts, black long dress (for me) that goes to the beach and also to the dining room. Nobody but you knows how many times you wore your black clothes, or where.

Also, I agree, laundry. My chosen cruise line doesn't have the daily laundry deal, but offers a bag you can fill for 30 bucks. I'm not shy. I roll and stuff that bag to bursting halfway through the cruise. Voila, fresh skivvies, socks and t-shirts all the way home!

On our first cruise, my daughter and I booked just three weeks in advance in early December. Huge bargain, about $500 each for five nights. You can get deals like this in the time between American Thanksgiving and before Christmas. We knew nothing and had a fabulous time. What did we care which ports we went to? We'd never been to any of them. Both were in Mexico -Cozumel and Costa Maya. Had a fine time walking around a bit, and people on board gave us advice and info. It went fine.

We just happened to sail on RCI because that suited our dates, but another line would have been fine too. Weather was cold and rainy a couple of days, but we didn't care. It wasn't snowing. We explored every bit of that ship, and participated in everything. Went to the shows, did the Trivia, took in the live music in the bars, ate in the Dining Room and the buffet, and loved that we could order room service for just the price of a decent tip.

I agree with the advice that, coming from Canada, you should fly in before the day of departure and stay overnight. We almost missed the cruise because of snow and delays. If you miss the ship, that's your problem, both from the departure port and any stops along the way. Number One rule: get onto the ship on time, everywhere.

Don't sweat this. Book a cruise that suits your dates and your budget. Try it out, and be open to enjoying everything. Once you've got one under your belt you can be more particular about destinations, cruise lines, etc. Anyone on Cruise Critic will tell you, any cruise is fine, and always better than no cruise at all.

I suggest you ask these questions on Trip advisor site, the sister to this site, for land travel. On the TA site, choose Forum. You'll have to look carefully for Forum on the opening page, near the top of the page. You may see three dots, and if you hover on that, Forum will drop down in a menu. Choose that, and from there it will be easy to find a Yukon Forum. Bbthere you will find people who know the area, and will provide answers to your questions. The TA Forum has been a great help to me.

I think the highway you want is called the Klondike highway, not Yukon highway.

Good luck with your search. It's a beautiful part of the world.

Yep. I hear you all. Guess I was looking for the magic silver bullet that says, "I know you people find each other fascinating but there are others who might like a little air time here."

Thanks for the responses, and you're correct, Nic. I won't be dining with these folks. They'd probably prefer that too.

You ruined five days of your cruise, and that was a big cost. My advice is never do this. Buy what you need from the ship's store or in port, and get all the enjoyment you paid for out of that cruise. Keep the receipts, make your claim afterward, but don't send good money after bad by ruining the one thing that could still have been wonderful - your cruise.

As well, once you've spent the money, stop fuming about it. You can spend the money and spend the rest of the day grinding your teeth about it, or spend the money and put it behind you for the rest of the cruise. Either way, the money is gone, and I say you might as well enjoy it as gripe about it.

Some roll calls have been terrific. All kinds of helpful ideas, opportunities to share excursions, possibilities for meeting up for shared interests on board, etc. But others become a chat-fest for an in-crowd who repeatedly post long lists of people joining them for a special dinner, yak back and forth about their upcoming weekend plans, or give ongoing detailed medical reports with a resulting flurry of well wishes.

The problem is that as new people join the roll call there are hundreds, maybe eve thousands of posts of unrelated chit-chat to comb through. Yes, yes, I know there's a search function, but that can still turn up a lot of flotsam.

Any tips for handling this? The one time I politely suggested people could carry on their personal conversations off-line by email, I was answered with outrage and snark. I've pretty much given up on one roll call right now, and it seems like most newcomers have too. As one wrote at the end of a post, "And now back to your regular program."

Really looking forward to following this thread. We'll be on for the TA in November B2B with the following Caribbean cruise. Loved LittleBritain's updates earlier in the year and hoping the curry menu is still available ongoing. We are big fans of Radiance class ships :D

See you onboard for the TA segment! Departing Nov 6 from Civitavecchia, right? We also love the Radiance class, and Jewel is the only one of those ships we haven't sailed on.

Please DO go and read that Iceland thread on TA, many sub-threads on rental cars, driving and problems. Since you are travelling in late Sept, autumn, with high winds in Iceland, is also coming on. The winds can blow volcanic ash that damage the car, and driving conditions can be very challenging. You can have rain, snow, ice on the road, and then suddenly sunshine.

I don't mean to discourage you - driving is the very best way to see the most possible in a limited time. We've done it twice in rental cars, and would not trade those experiences for anything. But you need to educate and protect yourself before you rent and drive a car in Iceland.

Have a wonderful trip! It is one of the most amazing places on earth. Don't be timid, but do be informed.